1. Field of Inventions
The field of this application and any resulting patent is lined downhole oilfield tubulars.
2. Description of Related Art
Downhole tubulars have been used in the past to produce oil from underground reservoirs including free flowing, reciprocating rod pumped, plunger lifted, gas lifted, submersible pumped, progressive cavity pumped, and hydraulically lifted methods. Other uses have included source, injection or disposal tubulars used to transport corrosive gases and fluids such as water and/or carbon dioxide (CO2) either for disposal or in secondary recovery operations.
Historically, wells using conventional reciprocating rod pumping units, rotating progressive cavity pumps, or plunger lift units in particular have evidenced problems with tubing and/or production equipment due to abrasion of the moving parts of the artificial lift devices (for example: rods, rod couplings and plungers) on the tubing walls. These failures may be accelerated by the presence of corrosive elements and/or by the deviation of the well bore. The production tubing joints can be protected with various corrosion resistant organic coatings to protect these areas from corrosive attack. A polymer liner greatly reduces these failures.
Tubular goods, such as oil country tubular goods (“OCTG's”) (e.g., well casing, tubing, drillpipe, drill collars, and line pipe) and flowline tubular goods, have been used for transportation of gases, liquids, and mechanical equipment, including various applications related to extraction of petroleum and natural gas from underground reservoirs, transportation of petroleum, natural gas, and other materials, such as solution mining and slurry transport lines in the mining industry. OCTG's have been used to transport the product from the underground reservoir, and also to house mechanical equipment (e.g., artificial lift devices, rod couplings, plungers, reciprocating rod pumping units, rotating progressive cavity pumps, and plunger lift units), electrical equipment (e.g., well monitoring equipment), and/or transport gases or liquids for disposal operations or secondary removal operations. These gases and liquids may contain corrosive materials such as, by way of example only, salt water, dissolved oxygen, CO2, or H2S. In addition, flowline tubular goods have been used to transport petroleum, petroleum products, natural gas, or other gases or liquids from one point to another. The gases and liquids which flow within flowlines may comprise corrosive and/or abrasive components. In addition, flowline tubular goods have occasionally required the use of mechanical equipment, such as pigs, to clean or service the tubular goods.
With respect to moving mechanical equipment and abrasive fluids, such as reciprocating or rotating rods or pumps or drilling or mining slurries (e.g., drilling mud), friction and abrasion may cause wear, fatigue, and even failure of the pipe and/or the equipment. In addition, this wear, fatigue, or failure may be accelerated due to the presence of corrosive or abrasive materials, such as, for example CO2, or by deviations in the direction of the well bore.
In addition to the possible acceleration of mechanical wear, fatigue, and failure, the presence of corrosive materials, in and of itself, may cause chemical damage to the OCTG's and flowline tubular goods. By way of example only, the presence of CO2, when contacted with metal or other materials, may cause corrosion, dusting, rusting, or pitting, which may lead to failure of the metal or material. In addition, the presence of microbiological active agents, such as bacteria, may produce chemicals that influence or accelerate corrosion.
It would therefore be desirable to create tubular goods that decrease or eliminate the mechanical and/or chemical wear, fatigue, or failure caused by the conditions surrounding the extraction of materials such as petroleum or natural gas and transportation of materials, thereby potentially increasing the life and productivity of those tubular goods.
Various methods and devices have been proposed and utilized, including the methods and devices disclosed in the patents appearing on the face of this patent. However, these methods and devices lack all the steps or features of the methods and devices covered by the patent claims below, and the methods and structures claimed in this issued patent solve many of the problems found in many of the methods and structures in those earlier patents, have unpredictable benefits, and overcome shortcomings inherent in those earlier methods and structures.